1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to smoking apparatus and in one of its aspects to a smoking apparatus that appears to be a conventional drink container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, hostility has steadily grown against smoking in public places and in areas where there is even slight crowding. Even at parties, where there are many people standing around holding drinks in their hands, smokers are put upon by others present both because of the smoke itself and because of the difficulty of maneuvering the lighted tip of a cigarette or other smoking article in a crowd of people.
In the past, a number of smoking apparatus had been developed that substantially conceal the cigarette as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,626 issued to Hutcheson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,764,164 issued to Coffey and U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,415 issued to Ellis. Such devices were developed for a variety of reasons, such as being safety devices and not showing the lit tip of the cigarette in the dark for blackout conditions. All of the devices, however, still looked like smoking devices, and when someone used one of the devices, there was no question but that the person was smoking.
Other smoking devices, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,626,613 issued to Glance and U.S. Pat. No. 2,894,514 issued to Moore disclose devices that leave the smoking tip of the cigarette exposed. Such devices were intended primarily as safety devices and were made primarily of specially constructed parts.